Board portal subsidiary management system, method, and computer program product

ABSTRACT

A board portal system provides the ability to manage multiple boards, where each of the boards may be a separate legal entity. The board portal may provide the ability to establish links between the multiple boards and create parent-child relationships with subsidiary boards. With the board portal, users can create content and make it viewable and accessible across multiple boards that related through a parent-child relationship. At the same time, the board portal maintains a requisite level of separation between the related boards in the portal using encryption and/or other separation techniques. As a result, the board portal facilitates flexible workflow patterns and communication processes based on the proper hierarchical structure that exists between the parent organization and its subsidiaries.

PRIORITY APPLICATION

This application claims priority to U.S. provisional application Ser.No. 61/310,340, filed on Mar. 4, 2010, the contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The technology relates to board of director communication systems andworkflow automation tools. In particular, the technology relates tocommunications and workflow processes involving a parent organizationand its subsidiary boards and committees.

BACKGROUND

The role of serving on a board of directors has become increasinglydifficult due to increased legislation and more stringent oversight.Board members must read more materials before each meeting, must attendmore meetings, and must communicate with senior executives and otherboard members more than ever before.

Each of these constraints puts pressure on board members and theadministrative support staff whose role it is to supply meetingmaterials and communications. A board portal may assist board membersand administrative support staff in performing their roles moreeffectively. A board portal is a web site that board members of acompany can access using a web browser and a password to obtaininformation, communication tools, and workflow automation tools relevantto their activities serving on the board.

A board portal may offer certain core functionality such as the abilityfor board members to access the system using transport layer security(TLS, SSL, or other cryptographic transport protocol) and some form of“strong” authentication, access a shared meeting calendar, view meetingagendas online, read and/or print out reading materials for upcomingmeetings, access repository documents such as the corporate bylaws,director handbooks and more, and access the contact information of otherboard members. A board portal may also offer enhanced functionality suchas secure email that allows board members to communicate with greatersecurity through the portal than can be obtained using traditional emailsystems. Further functionality may include the ability to cast votesonline or complete questionnaires and evaluations.

For complex organizations whose corporate structure includes multiplesubsidiary organizations underneath the parent, using a board portal tomanage all boards belonging to the organization is extremely difficultand problematic. The logical framework of the board portal configureseach board to have its own unique and separate logon. As such, there isa separation of calendars, document repositories, meeting materials,address books, and communication tools between each board. Suchseparation between boards is desirable from the organization'sperspective because each board represents a separate legal entity. Acertain degree of separation between the legal entities is necessary inorder to keep each board's unique business segregated. Additionally,board portals should use unique, differential encryption keys for eachboard's documents as another form of data segregation.

Furthermore, as the same or similar users may be tasked with managing aparent board and multiple subsidiary boards, certain tasks can becomerepetitive and inefficient. Prior to using a board portal system, userstasked with managing boards of parent and subsidiary companies couldrely upon traditional “manual” workflow to accomplish tasks. Forexample, postal delivery systems, facsimile transmission, and/orelectronic email could be used to distribute content to board members ofboth parent and subsidiary boards. But these traditional approaches donot offer large scale savings when many board members and/or boardsbecome involved. In other words, the work required for a given task maybe tied (e.g., linearly related) to the number of board members and/ornumber of boards associated with the task that is to be carried out.

The above-mentioned board portals may face similar challenges in thatadministrative support staff member must access each board's logicalworkspace within the board portal in order to create content for thatboard. Thus, for example, to distribute a document to the parent boardand its 100 subsidiary boards, administrative support staff must loginto 101 separate accounts and upload the same document 101 times.Further, this process may include controlling access control lists(e.g., permissions) for entities within each board. The entities may bedocuments, actions, etc. that require rights to be set in order to givecertain users within a board access to view documents, press buttonsrelated to a certain tasks (e.g., sending an email or setting a meetingtime), or alert other board users that new content is available withinthe portal.

Thus, it will be appreciated that techniques for managing board portalworkflow, systems, etc. are desirable. For example, techniques forimproving the efficiency of managing boards within a board portal systemare continuously sought while maintaining the requisite level ofseparation between different boards in the board portal.

SUMMARY

The inventors of the instant application recognized that one barrier forefficiently being able to manage multiple related boards in boardportals is the ability (or lack thereof) to create linkages betweenseparate parent and subsidiary boards. Further, that this limitationmay, in turn, render certain activities difficult (or in some casesimpossible) within the logical framework of a board portal. For example,many organizations have a committee existing at the parent board levelthat includes certain members of the subsidiary boards (e.g., aparent-level compensation committee made up of the chairs of each of thesubsidiary boards). Within the board portal, it may not be possible tocreate a meeting in a single shared calendar and additionally create ameeting agenda with presentation documents that can be accessed bycommittee members among both the parent and subsidiary boards. Meetingattendees and related activities such as meeting attendance reportingmay be handled on a per-meeting basis. As such, even the process ofduplicating one's efforts to create multiple identical meetings (onewithin each board) cannot provide administrative support staff memberswith the functionality that is required to properly manage such meetingswithin the board portal.

Accordingly, in certain example embodiments, boards that belong to thesame organization (e.g., in a parent/child relationship) may beassociated with one another. Thus, a meeting (with associated topics,files, etc) created in a parent board may be viewable, accessible, etcto subsidiary boards (and their users) based on an establishedassociation between the parent and subsidiary boards.

According to one aspect of the technology, a board portal system isprovided for managing multiple different boards. Each of the multipledifferent boards corresponds to a separate legal entity and having atleast one computer-based account that is associated with at least onemember. The board portal system includes a computer server accessibleusing a remote computer device. The computer server is configured toestablish at least one association between the multiple differentboards, the multiple different boards associated with a set of legalentities that belong to a pre-defined organizational structure; create alogical workspace within the board portal system for each of themultiple different boards; perform one or more tasks using one of thecreated logical workspaces; and facilitate access to informationassociated with the performed one or more tasks for computer-basedaccounts of each of the multiple different boards based on theestablished at least one association.

The computer server is further configured to send an alert to membersand/or the computer-based accounts of each of the multiple differentboards. The alert includes a message with a link for logging into thelogical workspace associated with the board to which the member isassociated.

According to another aspect of the technology, the board portalsubsidiary management system manages multiple different boards belongingto an organization corresponding to a hierarchical structure that existsbetween the boards belonging to the organization. The server creates alogical workspace within the board portal subsidiary management systemfor each of the multiple different boards. One or more tasks for themultiple different boards is (are) performed using the logical workspacecreated for each board. The server alerts members of each of themultiple different boards to facilitate member access to informationrelated to the one or more tasks by logging into the board to which themember belongs using the computer user device.

In one example embodiment, each of the multiple different boards ispreferably associated with a corresponding encryption to segregate thedata of each of the multiple different boards. A translator applicationprogramming interface decrypts data from one of the multiple differentboards and provides the decrypted data to another one of the multipledifferent boards. Separation is also provided because each logicalworkspace for each of the multiple different boards segregates the datasources of each of the multiple different boards into separate databasesand file volumes.

In a preferred example embodiment, one or more application programminginterfaces is (are) accessible to application modules of the boardportal system. A subsidiary database includes data structures thatsupport links between the multiple different boards. The one or moreapplication programming interfaces preferably include a parent-childhierarchy application programming interface that establishes andmaintains one or more sets of parent-child relationships to link themultiple different boards together into a parent board-subsidiary boardrelationship. The one or more application programming interfaces mayalso include a workflow application programming interface thatfacilitates creation and distribution of content by one member to otherboard members of the multiple different boards.

The board portal technology described in this application createslinkages that facilitate old and new workflow patterns and communicationprocesses based on the proper hierarchical structure that exists betweenthe parent organization and its subsidiaries. At the same time, therequisite level of separation between the parent and subsidiary boardsin the board portal is maintained.

Another aspect of the technology includes a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions whichwhen executed by a processing system of a board portal server perform amethod for interacting with multiple different boards. The multipledifferent boards including at least a first board and a second boardthat respectively correspond to separate legal entities. The at leastfirst and second boards correspond to a pre-defined organizationalstructure, and the at least first and second boards respectively includeat least first and second computer-accounts which are associated withone or more users. The stored instructions are configured, when executedby the processing system, to: establish an association between the firstboard and the second board; create a first logical workspace for thefirst board, the first logical workspace providing access tofunctionality for the at least first computer account; execute one ormore tasks on the processing system and within the first logicalworkspace; and permit the second computer account access to informationassociated with the one or more tasks executed within the first logicalworkspace based upon the association established between the first boardand the second board.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting an example architecture of a boardportal;

FIG. 2A is a block diagram depicting an example architecture ofsubsidiary management system for a board portal;

FIG. 2B is a block diagram depicting an example system architectureimplementing a subsidiary management system;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting an example architecture of a boardportal with a subsidiary management system;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting an example procedure for a user of aparent board sending data to a user of a child board;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart depicting an example procedure for a user of achild board receiving data from a user of a parent board;

FIG. 6 is an example screenshot depicting how parent-child relationshipsbetween boards are established by an administrator;

FIG. 7 is an example screenshot depicting a parent document center formanaging parent subsidiary documents in a board portal;

FIG. 8 is an example screenshot depicting the addition, removal, andmanagement of documents in a parent subsidiary document center;

FIG. 9 is an example screenshot depicting a subsidiary access rights/ACLUI control;

FIG. 10 is an example screenshot depicting a subsidiary notificationalert UI control;

FIG. 11 is an example screenshot depicting a document center for asubsidiary board;

FIG. 12 is an example screenshot depicting the documents available to asubsidiary board from a parent board;

FIG. 13 is an example screenshot depicting the creation of a meeting bya user on a parent board with subsidiary boards;

FIG. 14 is an example screenshot depicting a user on a parent boardsending a secure email to other board members and subsidiary boardmembers;

FIG. 15 is an example screenshot depicting a roster of a parent boardand its subsidiary boards; and

FIG. 16 is a flowchart depicting an example process according to certainexample embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for purposes of explanation andnon-limitation, specific details are set forth, such as particularnodes, functional entities, techniques, protocols, standards, etc. inorder to provide an understanding of the described technology. It willbe apparent to one skilled in the art that other embodiments may bepracticed apart from the specific details disclosed below. In otherinstances, detailed descriptions of well-known methods, devices,techniques, etc. are omitted so as not to obscure the description withunnecessary detail. Individual function blocks are shown in the figures.Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the functions of thoseblocks may be implemented using individual hardware circuits, usingsoftware programs and data in conjunction with a suitably programmedmicroprocessor or general purpose computer, using applications specificintegrated circuitry (ASIC), and/or using one or more digital signalprocessors (DSPs). The software program instructions and data may bestored on computer-readable storage medium and when the instructions areexecuted by a computer or other suitable processor control, the computeror processor performs the functions.

Thus, for example, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat block diagrams herein can represent conceptual views ofillustrative circuitry or other functional units embodying theprinciples of the technology. Similarly, it will be appreciated that anyflow charts, state transition diagrams, pseudocode, and the likerepresent various processes which may be substantially represented incomputer readable medium and so executed by a computer or processor,whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.

The functions of the various elements including functional blocks,including but not limited to those labeled or described as “computer”,“processor” or “controller” may be provided through the use of hardwaresuch as circuit hardware and/or hardware capable of executing softwarein the form of coded instructions stored on computer readable medium.Thus, such functions and illustrated functional blocks are to beunderstood as being either hardware-implemented and/orcomputer-implemented, and thus machine-implemented.

In terms of hardware implementation, the functional blocks may includeor encompass, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP)hardware, reduced instruction set processor, hardware (e.g., digital oranalog) circuitry including but not limited to application specificintegrated circuit(s) (ASIC), and (where appropriate) state machinescapable of performing such functions.

In terms of computer implementation, a computer is generally understoodto comprise one or more processors or one or more controllers, and theterms computer and processor and controller may be employedinterchangeably herein. When provided by a computer or processor orcontroller, the functions may be provided by a single dedicated computeror processor or controller, by a single shared computer or processor orcontroller, or by a plurality of individual computers or processors orcontrollers, some of which may be shared or distributed. Moreover, useof the term “processor” or “controller” shall also be construed to referto other hardware capable of performing such functions and/or executingsoftware, such as the example hardware recited above.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting an example architecture of a boardportal. Board Portal 10 may include instances such as Board A PortalWorkspace 12 and Board B Portal Workspace 14. User 16 a (User 1) may loginto Board Portal 10 using a laptop, PC, cell phone or any other deviceequipped with a browser or other user interface display.

User 1 may be a board member for Board A and have login credentialsconfigured for access to Board A Portal Workspace 12. The Board A PortalWorkspace 12 is an instance of Board Portal 10. Board A Portal Workspace12 may be dedicated to data and communications pertaining only to BoardA. This instance may not provide access to any other board's data orinformation, such as data belonging to Boards B, C, or D. In FIG. 1, the“Separation” dashed line represents this barrier between the boards.Similar to User 1, User 16 b (User 2) may log into a Board B PortalWorkspace 14, which is another instance of the Board Portal 10.

The board portal architecture includes Core APIs 18 a and 18 b,Application Modules 20 a and 20 b, and Data Sources 22 a and 22 b. Eachpart of the above board portal architecture may be, if desired,configured to work with only one board's data set at any one time.Non-limiting example core APIs may include Authentication APIs 24 a and24 b, User Interface (UI) display APIs 26 a and 26 b, Data EncryptionAPIs 28 a and 28 b, Security APIs 30 a and 30 b, and File Streaming APIs32 a and 32 b. Data Encryption API 28 a may, for instance, use adifferent encryption method than is used in Data Encryption API 28 b. Inthis way, the data of each board is explicitly separated. Thus, if allbusiness logic should fail, one board's data may not be read by a memberon another board.

Application Modules 20, likewise, may serve data for only one board at atime. Attendance Module 38 a, for instance, is used to compile a list ofthose users who will attend a board or committee meeting. Only thoseusers who belong to Board A in FIG. 1 will be visible to AttendanceModule 38 a. Attendance Module 38 a may not be able to access users whobelong to Board B. However, Attendance Module 38 b can access the userswho belong to Board B. This helps maintain the privacy of members ofother boards. Other non-limiting example application modules mayinclude, for example, calendar module 34, agenda module 36, documentsmodule 40, address book module 42, and notifications module 44.

The separation of data between Board A Portal Workspace 12 and Board BPortal Workspace 14 may be further enforced by yet another layer of dataseparation. In this instance, Data Sources 22 a and 22 b of the aboveboards are segregated into separate databases 46 a and 46 b and filevolumes 48 a and 48 b.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram depicting an example architecture ofsubsidiary management system for a board portal. Board Portal SubsidiaryManagement System (BPSMS) 50 allows information, documents, andcommunications to flow between and among an organization's parent andsubsidiary board members. In one non-limiting example, BPSMS 50 can be asuitably programmed computer-based system that includes SubsidiaryApplication Programming Interfaces (APIs) 52 accessible to ApplicationModules 20 within Board Portal 10. BPSMS 50 may also include SubsidiaryDatabase 54 containing, for example, table structures for supporting newlinkages across parent and subsidiary boards. Subsidiary APIs mayinclude, for example, Parent-Child Hierarchy API 56, Parent BoardWorkflow APIs 58, Child Board Workflow APIs 60, Subsidiary DataDecryption Translator API 62. Both Parent and Child Board Workflow APIsin FIG. 2 show example workflow APIs. The example parent board workflowAPIs include a subsidiary master user API, a subsidiary meeting creatorAPI, a subsidiary shared calendar API, a subsidiary rights/ACL setupAPI, a subsidiary documents API, a subsidiary address book API, asubsidiary attendance tracking API, and a subsidiary notificationalerting API. The example child board workflow APIs include a subsidiarymeeting viewer API, a subsidiary calendar viewer API, a subsidiarydocuments API, a subsidiary attendance reporting API, and a subsidiarynotification routing API. BPSMS 50 may also be embodied as computerprogram instructions and data stored on a non-transitory,computer-readable storage medium that may be executed using acomputer-based system to perform the BPSMS functions described in thisapplication.

A Parent-Child Hierarchy API 56 in BPSMS architecture 50 contains aseries of parent-child relationship rule sets that form the basis forlinking parent and subsidiary boards together. Parent-Child HierarchyAPI 56 may be first accessed using a master console utility that is onlyaccessible to administrators of the board portal that may be responsiblefor setting up client boards, committees, users, etc. The Parent-ChildHierarchy API 56 may store data in the Subsidiary Relationships table(s)in Subsidiary Database 54. When the Parent-Child Hierarchy API 56 isfirst accessed by the application during a user's log-on, it determineswhether the board the user is signing into is part of any subsidiaryrelationships. If it is, the Parent-Child Hierarchy API 56 establishes aset of rules governing how the board workspace is to allow data transferand communications between the present board being logged into and otherboards in the parent-child relationship. For example, a set of rulesmight be described as: “Board A is the parent of Boards B, C and D;therefore the Board A Application Workspace must allow for data transferand communications to Boards B, C and D.”

One or more Parent Board Workflow APIs 58 may define application logicand functionality that becomes accessible to Application Modules 20 whenParent-Child Hierarchy API 56 determines that the current boardworkspace is a parent for one or more other boards. The one or moreParent Board Workflow APIs 58 may provide functionality that forms the“linkages” for data transfer and communication between a parent boardand its children. Such linkages can also be used to allow data transferand communication between “sibling” boards. In other words, two boardswith the same “parent” may be siblings and thus may transfer data andcommunicate with each other through the parent board (either directly orindirectly). In most cases, one or more Parent Board Workflow APIs 58facilitates the creation and distribution of content to board userswithin the parent-child relationship.

One or more Child Board Workflow APIs 60 include application logic andfunctionality that becomes accessible to Application Modules 20 when theParent-Child Hierarchy API 56 determines that the current boardworkspace is a child of another board. For example, a Child BoardWorkflow API 60 may allow users to read content created by users on theparent board.

Subsidiary Data Decryption Translator API 62 includes a set of codelibraries that translates data between one board's encryption format andthat of another board. Encryption of each board's data may beaccomplished with different keys. Alternatively or in addition,encryption of each board's data may be accomplished using entirelydifferent encryption techniques or algorithms (e.g., AES256, PGP,Blowfish128, etc). Thus, for example, data presented to User 1 in FIG. 1may be encrypted and stored using AES256 encryption and data presentedto User 2 in FIG. 1 may be encrypted and stored using Blowfish128encryption.

A Subsidiary Data Decryption Translator API 62 determines which formatcontrols the encryption and subsequent decryption of a given board'sdata. Once this information is determined, the Subsidiary DataDecryption Translator API 62 may receive a request from an ApplicationModule, for example Documents Module 40 a in FIG. 1, to decrypt datafrom Board X and provide that data in a format that can be read by BoardY. Subsidiary Data Decryption Translation API 62 first makes a requestof Parent-Child Hierarchy API 56 to ensure that the two boards (X and Yin this example) are in a proper relationship together (e.g., aparent-child relationship). Subsequently, Subsidiary Data DecryptionTranslation API 62 retrieves, decrypts the requested data, and streamsit back to the requesting Application Module.

Subsidiary Database 54 exists outside of the scope of any one board'sdata sets, and is thus accessible to Subsidiary Management System APIs54 for requests involving a mix of data across various boards.Subsidiary Database 54, may include, for example, information regardingrelationships between boards (e.g., parent-child relationships), AccessControl Lists (ACL), Meetings, Meeting Attendees, Master Users,Documents, Notifications, etc.

FIG. 2B is a block diagram depicting an example system architectureimplementing a subsidiary management system. The example systemarchitecture includes a board portal server 51 having a networkinterface 55 and a CPU 53. The network interface 55 provides networkaccess to various external resources and provides external resourcesaccess to the server system. For example, a database 57 is accessible tothe server system 51, e.g., over an internal LAN. The database 57 maystore board relationships, documents, etc of Board A. Multiple databasesmay be implemented to provide an additional layer of division betweenseparate legal entities. This division may be, for example, a physicaldivision such as shown at database 59 which may store documents andother associated board information for Board B. In the example shown,database 59 is located at an external physical site accessible throughthe internet 61. Access to database 59 from the board portal server 51may be made using any suitable communications media. One access exampleis a virtual private network (VPN) or the like. The example architecturemay also allow access to the boards by allowing remote user devices A 65and B 63 to access the board portal server 51. User device B may connectto board portal server 51 from an internal (e.g., corporate) LAN viawired, wireless, or other communications media. Alternatively, Userdevice A may connect to board portal server 51 from a remote locationthrough a VPN or the like via wired, wireless, or other communicationsmedia.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting an example architecture of asubsidiary management system for a board portal. In FIG. 3 User 1 maylog into Board A. Board A is a parent board to boards B, C, and D.During the authentication process of User 1, Parent-Child Hierarchy API56 is queried by Authentication API 24 a. Parent-Child Hierarchy API 56detects the parent-child relationship between Board A and boards B, C,and D. Subsequently, Board A's portal workspace is extended to encompasssubsidiary boards B, C and D. Subsidiary APIs 52 may contain hooksallowing two-way communication to take place between Subsidiary APIs 52,Core APIs 18, and Application Modules 20, extending the functionality ofthe portal workspace to include Boards B, C and D. Likewise, SubsidiaryDatabase 54 and the corresponding subsidiary data may be accessible as anew data source within the portal workspace. This allows data to becomeaccessible across all boards within the scope of the parent-childhierarchy.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting an example procedure for a user of aparent board sending data to a user of a child board. The user of theparent board, User 1, logs into the application using her credentialsfor Board A. Authentication API 24 a queries Parent-Child Hierarchy API26 during the login process. The Parent-Child Hierarchy API 26determines that Board A is the parent of Boards B, C and D. Thisparent-child relationship is established for the duration of User 1'ssession. User 1 is routed by Authentication API 24 a into Board A PortalWorkspace 12, where she can access Application Modules 20 a. In thisexample, User 1 enters Meeting Agendas Module 36 a. Once in the MeetingsAgendas Module 36 a, User 1 accesses an extended set of functionalitywhich is available because the Agendas Module has hooks into theSubsidiary Meeting Creator API (a subset of Parent Board Workflow APIs58 shown in FIG. 2). This extended functionality allows User 1 to createa meeting agenda that is visible to users of Board A and is also visibleto users of Boards B, C, and D.

After creating the meeting agenda, User 1 may upload various documentsto the meeting using Documents Module 40 a. Similar to Meeting AgendaModule 36 a, Documents Module 40 a, may have hooks into the SubsidiaryDocuments API and the Subsidiary Rights/ACL Setup API of Parent BoardWorkflow APIs 58. The Subsidiary Documents API allows documents to bevisible across boards so long as they are related via the parent-childhierarchy. The Subsidiary Rights/ACL Setup API allows User 1 to selectwhich users may access the uploaded documents. These users may be userswithin Board A or users of subsidiary Boards B, C and D.

Lastly, User 1 enters Notifications Module 44 a, which sends out email,fax, wireless/SMS or other forms of alerts to notify users that newcontent is available. As with the above modules, Notifications Module 44a includes extended functionality in the form of hooks into theSubsidiary Notification Alerting API of Parent Board Workflow APIs 58.Similar to the functionality described above, User 1 may select usersfrom Boards B, C and D in addition to users from Board A. The alertmessage is then sent out to all selected users.

If the appropriate relationships are defined between two subsidiaryboards, then workflows may be implemented that allow communication anddata sharing between sibling boards. FIG. 5 is a flowchart depicting anexample procedure for a user of a child board receiving data from a userof a parent board. User 2 receives an alert, such as an email, from theboard portal system (see above). User 2 may click on a link in thatalert. The link may contain variables embedded within a URL of the link,or some other form of identifiers, that are passed to Authentication API24 b when User 2 begins the login process.

Authentication API 24 b queries Parent-Child Hierarchy API 56 anddetermines that Board B is a child of Board A. After successfullyauthenticating User 2, Authentication API 24 b routes User 2 toNotifications Module 44 b, passing along the variables that wereobtained from the above URL identifier. Notifications Module 44 b, whichunder normal circumstances can only handle alerts within Board B,contains extended functionality via the Subsidiary Notification RoutingAPI of Child Board Workflow APIs 60 that allows it to locate dataelements of Boards A, C, and D. Each of these boards are within thescope of the parent-child hierarchy related to Board B. NotificationsModule 44 b identifies that User 2 has been sent into the application tolook at a specific meeting announcement sent by User 1 of Board A. User2 is appropriately routed to the agenda for that specific meeting.

To display the agenda for that meeting, the board portal system reliesupon Agenda Module 36 b. As with the above modules, this module also hasaccess to extended functionality through the Subsidiary Meeting ViewerAPI of Child Board Workflow APIs 60. Subsidiary Meeting Viewer API ofChild Board Workflow APIs 60 allows it to retrieve meeting agendasbelonging to other boards within the parent-child hierarchy. As aresult, User 2 can view the agenda while logged into Board B that User 1created while logged into Board A. User 2 next clicks on a document thatis associated with the meeting agenda to open it.

The board portal system relies upon Documents Module 40 b to processdocument views. As with the above modules, Documents Module 40 b alsohas access to extended functionality via hooks into two workflow APIs ofChild Board Workflow APIs 60. The first is the Subsidiary Documents API.This API allows users of one board to access documents belonging toanother board so long as both boards are related via a parent-childhierarchy. The second is the Subsidiary Data Decryption Translator API.This API is used to decrypt stored encrypted documents. As discussedabove, encryption keys and or methods may vary between different boards.For example, in FIG. 5, the document stored by User 1 of Board A mayhave been encrypted using a different algorithm than the algorithm usedfor data stored from Board B. Thus, the Subsidiary Data DecryptionTranslator API is used to “translate” documents of one board such thatthe documents may be read and/or viewed by members of another board.Documents Module 40 b next streams out the document content to User 2via File Streaming API 32 b, and User 2 is thereby able to view thedocuments uploaded by User 1. Additionally, as with the FIG. 4,workflows involving subsidiary-to-subsidiary data sending may beconfigured.

For illustrative purposes only, several non limiting example screenshotsare now described. FIG. 6 is an example screenshot depicting howparent-child relationships between boards are established by anadministrator. Although multiple configurations could be used, thecurrent screen shows a page within the “Master Console.” The MasterConsole may be a web-based application used by a set of masteradministrators who are able to create boards and manage other top-levelobjects within the application. In the present example, a masteradministrator has already created Boards A, B, C, D, E and F, and hasnow clicked into an edit screen to change the properties of Board A.

On the screen shown, the master administrator establishes Board A as aSubsidiary Parent Board and selects one or more other boards to become“subsidiary children” boards of Board A. Board A may also be a child ofanother board. For example, in FIG. 6, Board A is a child board of Board123. For FIGS. 6-15, it is assumed that Board A is established as theparent board of Boards B, C and D within the board portal system.

FIG. 7 is an example screenshot depicting a parent document center formanaging parent subsidiary documents in a board portal. As Board A isthe parent board of Boards B, C and D, the Documents Module is expandedto include hooks into the Subsidiary Documents API. As seen in FIG. 7this results in a new document center appearing on this screen. Entitled“Subsidiary Documents,” this new document center is a documentrepository where documents can be shared with users of Boards B, C and D(the subsidiary boards). With a separate document center, each board maymaintain its own corporate documents (e.g., bylaws and press releases)and other documents. However, different document center configurationsmay be implemented. For example, a single document center may displayand contain both parent and subsidiary documents.

FIG. 8 is an example screenshot depicting the addition, removal, andmanagement of documents in a parent subsidiary document center. In thiscase, a user within Board A has clicked into the Subsidiary DocumentsCenter and has uploaded one document entitled “Document 1.” As shown,the user can upload additional new documents, organize documents intofolders, and/or modify the current documents (including editing,deleting, setting rights, and announcing). Although any document withinthis screen can be seen by users within Boards B, C and D, (as well asthose within Board A), the actual access rights established for eachdocument may determine individual user access to each document.

FIG. 9 is an example screenshot depicting the Subsidiary AccessRights/ACL user interface control. This control is the user interfaceelement of the Subsidiary Rights/ACL Setup API. Access rights associatedwith data for a given application govern which users can view uniquedata elements. Without being specifically granted access to view a givenpiece of data, a user may not view or edit that piece of data.

The Assign Rights screen provides functionality that lists out the fullset of users who can be given view access to a given item. As shown, theSubsidiary Rights/ACL user interface control contains not just thoseusers within Board A (the current board), but also those within BoardsB, C and D (the subsidiary child boards). To establish view rights, theuser selects the sub-groups within each board on the left-hand side ofthe screen. As sub-groups are selected, the users belonging to thosesub-groups appear on the right-hand side of the screen. Each user can beselected or un-selected, giving the user granular control over ACLs fora specific item.

FIG. 10 is an example screen shot depicting a subsidiary notificationalert UI control. A user may wish to send out a notification to otherusers regarding newly created content. For example, a new document,meeting, or other content may have been created by a user in FIG. 8.Subsequently, the user may grant view access to the new content tovarious users in FIG. 9. Notifications Module 44 a is extended to “pullin” users from any board within the parent-child hierarchy. Thus, inFIG. 10 user “Bret BW,” a user associated with Board A, has selectedBoard A users “Bob Jones,” “Sally Smith,” and “James Ross” to send anotification to. Further, as shown, Bret has also selected six users ofBoards B and C to receive the notification. Thus, the alert created byBret will be sent to users of Boards A, B, and C.

FIG. 11 is an example screenshot depicting a document center for asubsidiary board. Board B is a child board of Board A. As a result, whena user of Board B logs in, the user will see an entirely new documentcenter entitled “Board A Documents.” This document center may be similarto the document center shown in FIG. 7 with the name “SubsidiaryDocuments.” Because any board can be both a parent for other boards anda child of another board, naming schemes may be provided to assist usersin quickly and easily identifying the source of documents within thedocument centers.

FIG. 12 is an example screen screenshot depicting the documentsavailable to a subsidiary board from a parent board. This screen gives auser access to the actual documents contained within this new documentcenter. All of the documents located within this screen are created byusers within Board A, yet are still available to users of Board B.

FIG. 13 is an example screenshot depicting the creation of a meeting bya user on a parent board with subsidiary boards. For example, a user ofBoard A can create a meeting that includes users of subsidiary childboards B, C, and D. First, the user clicks “Subsidiary” under the “Typeof Meeting” selection. The selection of the type of meeting causes the“Select Meeting Attendees” user interface selection control to appear.This control is an instance of the Subsidiary Access Rights/ACL userinterface control shown above in FIG. 9. The control facilitates theselection of meeting attendees for a meeting. As described above,Subsidiary Management System 50 may use meeting workflows to manage“mixed board” meetings. FIG. 13 shows that the user of Board A created ajoint board meeting. The meeting includes the members of the Board ofDirectors belonging to Boards A, C and D. Subsidiary Management System50 places all of these users within one consolidated attendee listingwithin the board portal even though they exist in separate andsegregated board portal workspaces.

FIG. 14 is an example screenshot depicting a user on a parent boardsending a secure email to other board members and subsidiary boardmembers. The screenshot provides an example of how a user on Board Auses a Secure Email system to send a communication, not just to userswithin the current board, but also to users within Boards B, C and D (asthese are related within the parent-child hierarchy). To accomplishthis, a user on Board A clicks on the “Subsidiary To” button.Subsequently, an instance of the Subsidiary Access Rights/ACL userinterface control is displayed. As discussed above this control allowsthe view and selection of users of subsidiary boards. In this example,the user of Board A selects Roberta Smith and Walter Jenkins of Board Band Jack Hamilton and Rob Altos of Board C. The user may then send thesecure email to the above recipients.

FIG. 15 is an example screenshot depicting a roster of a parent boardand its subsidiary boards. The displayed roster (an address bookcontaining the contact information for users within each board) has beenextended to include not just users within the current board (Board A),but also any other boards within the parent-child hierarchy (Boards B, Cand D). This sharing of contact information facilitates thecollaboration and communication necessary between related boards.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart depicting an example process according to certainexample embodiments. In step 1602, multiple different boards areassociated with each other based on the relationship of the legalentities. For example, boards that are related via a legal relationshipof owner/subsidiary may have a parent-child relationship established ina board portal system. Next in step 1604, logical workspaces are createdfor the boards. As discussed above, the logical workspaces mayfacilitate user creation of tasks that are performed by the board portalsystem. Thus, in step 1606 a document is uploaded from User A. In thisexample process, User A is a member of Board A and has a computeraccount associated therewith. Once the document is uploaded in step1606, workflows or businesses processes may be checked to see who shouldhave access to the document. In certain example embodiments, thisprocess may be automatic or hidden from the user and the permissions orwho is notified is based on who uploaded the document. In certainexample embodiments, User A may expressly set the permissions,notifications, etc. According, in step 1608 a notification is sent toother users of the board portal system. For example, User B is sent anotification. User B is a member of Board B. Board B is a child board ofBoard A. Thus the notification sent in step 1608 is an inter-boardnotification. As described above, upon receipt of the notification, UserB may click on the link or notification and be granted access to thefile, etc in step 1610.

Also as discussed above, the security (e.g., encryption) of filesbetween different boards may be different. Accordingly, in step 1612 thedata of the earlier uploaded document is translated from the encryptionscheme of Board A to the encryption scheme of Board B. After, or during,this process the document may be streamed to the computer that User B isusing in step 1614. Accordingly, User B, a member Board B, may view adocument uploaded to the board portal system by User A, a member ofBoard A.

It will be appreciated that certain steps may be omitted from the aboveprocess. For example, if a board is already created and has anassociated logical workspace, then, for example, step 1604 may beskipped or omitted.

Although various embodiments have been shown and described in detail,the claims are not limited to any particular embodiment or example.Other types of business relationships that may have multiple boards arealso contemplated. For example, the above technology may be used in anon-traditional parent-child relationship, such as joint ventures,partnerships, or a company with two parent companies. None of the abovedescription should be read as implying that any particular element,step, range, or function is essential such that it must be included inthe claims scope. The scope of patented subject matter is defined onlyby the claims. The extent of legal protection is defined by the wordsrecited in the allowed claims and their equivalents. All structural andfunctional equivalents to the elements of the above-described preferredembodiment that are known to those of ordinary skill in the art areexpressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to beencompassed by the present claims. Moreover, it is not necessary for adevice or method to address each and every problem sought to be solvedby the technology described, for it to be encompassed by the presentclaims. No claim is intended to invoke paragraph 6 of 35 USC § 112unless the words “means for” or “step for” are used. Furthermore, noembodiment, feature, component, or step in this specification isintended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether theembodiment, feature, component, or step is recited in the claims.

We claim:
 1. A board portal system for managing multiple differentelectronic board portals that respectively correspond to a separatelegal entity having a board of directors, each one of the electronicboard portals having at least one computer-based account that isassociated with at least one member, the board portal system comprising:a non-transitory storage medium system configured to: store each one ofa plurality of digital documents in an encrypted form and in associationwith at least one of the multiple different electronic board portals,the encrypted form for each one of the plurality of digital documentsbeing different and based on the associated at least one of the multipledifferent electronic board portals of the corresponding digitaldocument; and a computer server that includes processing circuitrycoupled to a memory device and a transceiver, the computer serveraccessible using a remote computer device via the transceiver, thecomputer server being configured to: establish at least one associationbetween a plurality of the multiple different electronic board portals,the boards of directors associated with the multiple differentelectronic board portals corresponding to a set of legal entities thatbelong to a pre-defined organizational structure; record, to thenon-transitory storage medium system, the established at least oneassociation that is between the plurality of the multiple differentelectronic board portals; create an electronic workspace for each one ofthe multiple different electronic board portals; execute, within acorresponding electronic workspace of one of the multiple differentelectronic board portals, one or more tasks, the one or more tasks beingassociated with at least one of the plurality of documents; and inaccordance with execution of the one or more tasks, accept a request toaccess the at least one of the plurality of stored documents for acomputer-based account; authorize access to the at least one of theplurality of stored documents for the computer-based account based onthe stored at least one association.
 2. The board portal system of claim1, wherein the computer server system is further configured to send analert to members and/or the computer-based accounts of each of themultiple different boards of directors.
 3. The board portal system ofclaim 2, wherein the alert includes a message with a link for logginginto the electronic workspace associated with the electronic boardportal to which the member and/or computer-based account is associatedtherewith.
 4. The board portal system of claim 1, wherein the computerserver system is further configured to: in accordance with authorizationof access to the at least one of the plurality of stored documents,decrypt and provide the at least one of the plurality of storeddocuments that is stored in encrypted form on the non-transitory storagemedium system, wherein the stored at least one of the plurality ofstored documents is associated with a first electronic board portal andthe computer-based account is associated with a second, different,electronic board portal, the first and second electronic board portalsbeing linked via the recorded at least one association.
 5. The boardportal system of claim 1, wherein the stored plurality of digitaldocuments are segregated into separate databases and/or file volumes onthe non-transitory storage medium system.
 6. The board portal system ofclaim 1, wherein the computer server system is further configured toprovide one or more application programming interfaces accessible toapplication modules of the board portal system.
 7. The board portalsystem of claim 6, further comprising a subsidiary database includingdata structures configured to support links between the multipledifferent electronic board portals.
 8. The board portal system of claim6, wherein the one or more application programming interfaces comprise aparent-child hierarchy application programming interface configured toestablish and maintain one or more sets of parent-child relationships tolink the multiple different electronic board portals together into aparent board-subsidiary board relationship.
 9. The board portal systemof claim 6, wherein the one or more application programming interfacesfurther comprise a workflow application programming interface configuredto facilitate creation and distribution of content by one member toother board members of the multiple different electronic board portals.10. The board portal system of claim 9, wherein the one or moreapplication programming interfaces further comprise a workflowapplication programming interface configured to facilitate access tocontent sent by one member to other board of director members of themultiple different electronic board portals.
 11. A computer-implementedmethod of managing multiple different electronic board portals thatrespectively correspond to a separate legal entity having a board ofdirectors, each one of the electronic board portals having at least onecomputer based account, the method comprising: storing, to anon-transitory storage medium system of a board portal computer system,each one of a plurality of digital documents in an encrypted form and inassociation with at least one of the multiple different electronic boardportals, the encrypted form for each one of the plurality of digitaldocuments being different and based on the associated at least one ofthe multiple different electronic board portals of the correspondingdigital document; establishing, by processing circuitry of the boardportal computer system, at least one association between a plurality ofthe multiple different electronic board portals, the boards of directorsassociated with the multiple different electronic board portalsbelonging to plural legal entities that belong to an organizationalstructure; storing, to the non-transitory storage medium system of aboard portal computer system, the established at least one associationthat is between the plurality of the multiple different electronic boardportals; creating, by the processing circuitry of the board portalcomputer system, an electronic workspace for at least one of themultiple different electronic board portals executing, via theprocessing circuitry of the board portal computer system, one or moretasks for the at least one of the multiple different electronic boardportals in the electronic workspace created for the at least one of themultiple different electronic board portals; sending an electronic alertto members of the at least one of the multiple different electronicboard portals; accepting, via the processing circuitry of the boardportal computer system, a request to access at least one of the storeddigital documents that is related to the one or more tasks by using acomputer-based account associated with at least one of the multipledifferent electronic board portals; authorizing, via the processingcircuitry of the board portal computer system, access for thecomputer-based account into the created electronic workspace to accessthe at least one of the digital documents based on the stored at leastone association.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:decrypting data, by the processing circuitry, from one of the pluralityof multiple different electronic board portals, and providing thedecrypted data to another one of the plurality of multiple differentelectronic board portals.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein digitaldocuments associated with each one of the multiple different electronicboard portals is segregated into separate databases and/or file volumes.14. The method of claim 11, further comprising maintaining andestablishing a set of parent-child relationships through a parent-childhierarchy application programming interface that links the plurality ofmultiple different boards of directors together into a parentboard-subsidiary board relationship.
 15. The method of claim 14, furthercomprising distributing, via the electronic board portals, content toboard of directors members of the plurality of multiple differentelectronic board portals using the board portal.
 16. The method of claim14, wherein the accepted request is from a user associated of a childelectronic board portal and the at least one of the digital documents isassociated with a parent electronic board portal.
 17. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions forexecution by a processing system of a board of directors portal serverperform that manages multiple different electronic board portals, themultiple different electronic board portals including at least a firstelectronic board portal and a second electronic board portal thatrespectively correspond to separate legal entities, the at least firstand second electronic board portals corresponding to a pre-definedorganizational structure, the at least first and second electronic boardportals respectively including at least first and secondcomputer-accounts, which are associated with one or more users, thestored instructions comprising instructions configured to: encrypt andstore, to a storage medium system of the board of directors portalserver, data associated with the first electronic board portal with afirst encryption and encrypt data associated with the second electronicboard portal with a second encryption, the encryption of the dataassociated with the first and second electronic board portals beingbased on the corresponding board portal that the data is associatedwith; store an association between the first electronic board portal andthe second electronic board portal; create a first electronic logicalworkspace for the first electronic board portal, the first electroniclogical workspace providing access to functionality for the at leastfirst computer account, the functionality including the encrypted andstored data that is associated with the first electronic board portal;responsive to a task execution instruction, execute one or more tasks onthe processing system and within the first electronic logical workspace;receive an access request for the second computer-account to access dataassociated with the first electronic board portal; authorize access tothe data associated with the first electronic board portal for thesecond computer-account that is associated with the second electronicboard portal determination based upon the stored association establishedbetween the first electronic board portal and the second electronicboard portal.
 18. The medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions arefurther configured to construct an electronic alert message and issuethe electronic alert message members of the first and second electronicboard portals after execution of the one or more tasks.
 19. The mediumof claim 17, wherein the instructions are further configured to: decryptdata associated with the first electronic board portal, and responsiveto data requests, provide the decrypted data via the second electronicboard portal in accordance with the stored association.